A warm welcome to this first edition of Reflections on a Lake.
Here I am experimenting with sharing my thoughts with the world. It’s harder than it looks, but easier than I thought.
A preview of topics I might reflect on here: productivity, community, buddhism, activism, and life. If this floats your bloat, do sign up at the end.
Today we’re using a format used in James Clear’s newsletters, where I share 3 reflections from me, 2 quotes from others, and 1 question for you. Onwards!
I.
I like this term Cal Newport’s used in his blog recently. It’s like he’s magically labelled exactly what I’ve been seeking to do.
The term was “a deep life”.
Cal has written about what cultivating one means to him - but I’ve wondered, what does living one mean to me?
So far, I think it’s about making choices in areas of my life (e.g. community, productivity, income & spending) - such that my life centres around mindfulness, going deeper into learning topics that matter to me, and making a positive wider contribution. More on this in the future..
II.
During Y3 of uni, I actually enjoyed writing essays (aside from the immense pressure from clashing deadlines at the time). I really liked when I understood a topic much better after writing an essay about it.
I thought, wouldn’t it be cool if I could do this for topics outside of my degree curriculum? That way I could learn anything, at a much deeper level than I have been - no more feeling like I was at an impasse.
Yet despite how simple it sounded, I struggled with figuring out how to write essays for myself. I vaguely knew that I needed to bookmark relevant inspiration, and then somehow decide on an essay title..
And that’s what lead me to take this course, Building a Second Brain. It was pricier than what I’m used to, and I was thinking and saving for it for a while. But it’s been super rewarding so far, and is one of the reasons I'm writing this newsletter right now.
It’s like all the workflow methods I haphazardly used to write essays during university have been revealed to me, and now I’m able to use them in a more systematic and effective way. Of course, I’ll be applying what I’ve learnt to way more than essays. I can see my second brain will be useful for e.g. facilitating workshops, making visual art, and researching life decisions.
I would have loved to have taken this course back in uni. Today, I showed my partner how to set up his second brain and it was exciting for both of us.
I’ve been thinking of reaching out to friends who are still in uni as I can see how a second brain system could really work for them, especially with effectively extracting and organising insights from academic articles.
If you’re curious or would like some help setting up a second brain for yourself, let me know!
III.
Recently I’ve been drawn to a productivity approach where instead of scheduling what to do precisely and when, you do what you feel is important or interesting at the time. I’m a bit blur about it because the original guide has a suggestion to write a three to five item to-do list for yourself tomorrow and work like hell to get it done.
These suggestions are probably not mutually exclusive, but what if you wake up and feel like none of the to-do’s you’ve written are important or interesting? I suppose you could re-write the list.
Does working on whatever is most important or interesting at any given time mean you might jump about tasks? I guess if a task becomes difficult or boring, it doesn’t mean it’s not still the most important.
I’ve been loosely implementing this approach to doing things the past two weeks, and on several days it’s been joyously liberating and productive. On other days it’s lead me to play a computer game for hours (the 'most interesting’ thing) instead of doing more important & urgent things.
It sounds like I need to recognise the difference between procrastinating based on fear, and ‘beneficial laziness’ based on doing things just in time. Tiago (the mind behind BASB) mentioned this in a Q&A recently. He also said he "couldn’t tolerate anything that is not fun” - which is super interesting.
I.
Pema Chodron beautifully explains Tong-Len (taking and giving practice):
“To the degree we can open to our own discomfort, we can open to others as well, and vice versa. Because in reality, there’s no difference between our pain and that of others. Fear is fear, sadness is sadness, anger is anger, anxiety is anxiety - whether we call them mine, or yours. They are more like free-floating qualities we all share. When you breathe in your anxiety, you are opening to anxiety as a whole, the sum total anxiety in this world. You can breathe it in, relax with it, become friends with it, and thus become free of it.”
Source: Welcoming the Unwelcome (brilliantly narrated by Claire Foy)
II.
Geshe Tashi Tsering, on navigating Buddhist traditions:
“It is very helpful to read up on the different traditions and search for common ground, and then from that basis choose whichever is suitable for your own mentality and your own lifestyle. It is really what speaks to you at this moment that will help you.”
How are you feeling right now? (Comment below)
Thank you for reading.
If you enjoyed this, join this little reading community for future writings.
Until next time,
Abigail
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